********

My Friend: “My memory has definitely gotten worse since I became a mom.”

Me: “Yup, definitely. I’m pretty sure I forgot to make lunch for Liam one day last week, but I’m not positive. Some days I feel like my brain is made of cheese.”

Liam (looking alarmed): “Mommy, you mean Swiss cheese? The kind with the big holes?”

Oh, right – the holes! That would explain my problem.

********

Liam was climbing from the kitchen counters to a high cabinet in an attempt to reach some crackers. Thinking that this was not safe, I offered to help.

Me: “Wait, kiddo. Let me reach those for you. I’ll have them in just a …”

The crackers were inches out of my reach.

Liam: “Or not.”

I jumped a couple of times, trying to reach the box at the top of my jump. That didn’t work. In rushed Kiri.

Kiri (tapping a thoughtful forefinger against his temple): “Ah know, Ah know!!!”

And off he ran, returning a few seconds later with a six-inch tall ladder from a toy fire engine. He triumphantly handed it over to me.

Kiri: “Hey! Mommy! See? SEE? Me save da day! Yay! Yay! YAAAAAAYYYYY!”

Three cheers for Kiri! (The lesson on spacial relations will wait for a long time, so we can enjoy the cuteness of toddlerhood.)

********

Liam: “How do you know when you’re a grown-up?”

Me: “Well, it doesn’t really happen all at once. But most people say when you are eighteen you are an adult.”

Liam: “You mean you are allowed to live alone when you’re eighteen?”

Me (teasing): “Well, amongst other things, yes.  Are you anxious to move out to your own place?”

Liam (truly alarmed): “Oh, no! Not me! I’m never moving out. I’m staying here forever!”

Me: “Don’t you think you might want to get married and have children sometime?”

Liam: “Well….well…well…I know! I’ll marry you, Mommy! Then I can stay here forever! And you always say Kiri is all our baby, so we can raise him together. It’s perfect!”

Me (trying unsuccessfully not to laugh): “But what about Daddy?”

Liam: “Well, he can stay here too. That way when you and I want to play together and not have Kiri mess things up, we can get Daddy to watch him. And he still needs to go to work anyway, because we will always need money. Right!??!”

I am so sorry you are stuck playing second fiddle to your wife, Kev!

********

I was fixing a snack for the boys this morning. Kiri was beside me, knocking magnets off the refrigerator. Up in the cabinet I found a cookie package with one lone cookie left inside. Wanting to throw out the package in order to save some cupboard space, I pulled out the cookie and handed it to Kiri. Of course, Liam chose just that moment to appear around the corner.

Liam: “Mommy! Mom—-Kiri what do you have? OH!! Mommy! How come he has a cookie and I don’t?”

Me (watching Liam reach for the cookie): “Well, there was-”

Kiri: “Me! Mine! ME!!!!”

Liam: “I’m bigger! Mine!”

Me: “Boys, if you fight over-”

Kiri (as Liam steals the cookie): “MOMMY!!! Yee-Yee!”

And Kiri burst into tears. Liam had the cookie halfway to his mouth when Kiri grabbed the cookie. Liam tugged back, and the cookie flew through the air and fell to the floor. Casey pounced on it. Casey ate it. As you can see, Casey is quite an experienced pro when it comes to extracting food from toddlers.

Both Boys: “Mommy! Casey!”

Kiri (in tears): “Mommy! ME’S COOK-COOK! No Yee-Yee’s! No Casey’s! Me’s cookah! EAT!!!”

Liam (in tears): “CASEY ATE OUR COOKIE!!!”

Me: “He ate ‘our cookie’? I thought each if you thought it was your cookie.”

Liam: “I guess Casey thought that if we were fighting over it, then it was his cookie.”

Me: ‘I guess so…”

Kiri (opening the pantry door and pulling out a package of chocolate chips): “Me MAKE! Mo’ cookahs!”

Liam: “Can we make cookies, Mommy?”

Me (laughing): “That would seem to be the best solution.”

********

Thank you all for humoring me and reading my sons’ verbal exploits. These two, they keep me laughing!

Kevin went to The Netherlands on a business trip for a week, during which the boys and I were extremely happy to welcome Gran-Gran to the Menagerie House. I just remembered that I did post about her toy-induced trip to the ER, but really, other than that one bad night, we all had a wonderful visit. Our only complaint is that it was too short, but the good news is that she will return, hopefully for Kiri’s birthday party at the end of March.

Since Kiri is a bit young to care much about the specifics of his party, his brother was happy to step in and take charge of the situation. He was more than happy to instruct Kiri as to the importance of a desirable theme for his party, and he came up with two themes. He couldn’t decide which one, robots (since “Kieran needs to learn about robots”) or food (since Kiri has yet to meet a food he dislikes), was best, so I asserted my maternal rights and picked a Spring theme.

That was partly because I’ve had enough Winter, and partly because I want to make the cake. I’ve gotten all into decorating cookies this winter, and I would like to expand my horizons a bit and try a fancy cake. I’ve had my eye on this bunny cake pan for a while, and with a recent sale at my favorite baking store, Fancy Flours, I was able to finally able to fit it into our budget. I think I will have to make two bunnies for his party, and then possibly I’ll make some egg and baby bunny shaped cookies for the children to take home. I thought it would be cute to make carrot cakes, but they are so moist I don’t know if they’d really make stable 3-dimensional bunnies. I may punt and make one chocolate and one French vanilla, or possibly lemon. Perhaps I will think about how to decorate them and draw inspiration from that. Also, I’d best got on the mission of consulting a calendar and picking a date for the fiesta.

While I’m on a creative segment here, I’ll mention that I have joined Chichimama’s latest knit-a-long. I would love a pair of nice warm mittens, so these will be for me. Since being frugal is so very necessary chic these days, I turned to my stash for yarn and found a nice variegated purple-pink heavy cotton yarn. My only concern is that the colors are so busy that the main artistic point of the mittens, a long cable running from wrist to fingertip, will be hidden. Then again, I want to make this “Just Enough Ruffles” scarf at some point, so maybe I’ll go ahead with the pink and purple first for fun and to get mitten knitting experience, and then pick up a pretty solid color color later to make a second pair of cable mittens and a JER scarf in the same color. I’m almost finished with my gauge swatch and it looks like it’ll be spot on, which rarely happens for me, so clearly the variegated yarn would be quite usable for this pattern. I just have to sew together the sweater I’m working on for Kiri to wear this Spring and then I’m free to make the mittens.

Speaking of creative pursuits, Santa left an easel for Liam this year. He loves to use it on days when he is willing to stay still for a few minutes, and Kiri has taken quite a shine to painting himself. When I chose the word “himself” I didn’t mean it in the literal sense…

..but Kiri took it that way.

The statement, “Kiri, we only paint paper!”

…does not stop Kieran, the All-Surface Painter.

Now, of course, if one is decorating cookies with frosting then one obviously has edible media on  hand…

…and on face. How amazing is that???

But the best part – the most exciting artistic discovery ever…

…is that a loyal dog makes such a huggable canvas!

In other news, we are seeing the beginnings of sibling rivalry these days. It is clear that the boys adore each other. When he is unaware of adult eyes Liam will not uncommonly watch Kiri play for a few minutes and then walk over, give him a big kiss, and whisper “I love you, Kiri K!” And every day at 8:30 A.M. the saddest boy in the world is Kieran. That’s because Liam’s kindergarten starts then and we have to leave him at school for a few hours. As we get into the car, Kieran will point to Liam’s car seat and shout, “Yee-Yee! Yee-Yee! Mommy! Yee-Yee! Now!” (He hasn’t gotten the hang of the “L” sound yet.) And the tears, they flow. On days when Kiri is inconsolable I will turn into the driveway of the house immediately behind the school. It belongs to one of the faculty members, and it affords a good view of the kindergarten play yard where Liam and his classmates are at play. We watch for a few minutes until I am able to calm Kiri enough to make it through the morning.

On the other hand, however, there are loud and screechy daily battles over my lap because neither child will share that spot with the other. And when Kiri misbehaves, Liam is not above reminding me that whatever the crime (large or minute) in question is, well of course, it is most certainly not his doing.

“Mommy, good job cleaning Kiri up. You see, I am old enough to know that painting my face is wrong, wrong, wrong. And Kiri…is not.”"

Point taken, kiddo. Now, enough crowing already.

Valentine’s day is upon us. It’s not a holiday I pay much attention to, but it is a big one with the grade school set. Liam’s class had a Valentine’s Day celebration today. Each child brought in a Valentine of his or her making, and then they had a swap…

..and Liam got to bring home this beauty.

And then, after snack…

…they made heart necklaces from felt and wool roving…

(not the best photo with part of Kiri’s head there, but it shows off the hearts the best of the ones I took)

…and made Valentine’s Day ornaments. I have never seen an ornament like this, and I think it’s gorgeous.

Liam was especially proud of this one since he made all of it himself with the exception of tying the knot on the thread. “I even sewed the ribbon into a loop by myself, Mommy!”

And here it is in its place of honor on our “Valentine’s Day tree.” The boys and I made Valentines and hung them on the tree while whiling away our Snow Day last week.

The Snow Day was also a great time to play with the ferrets…

…get them all rowdy…

…and more than ready for a nap!

This is Pippi enjoying an afternoon siesta.

I’ve spent way too much time on this post already, so I will end it here. These, my friends, have been the highlights of the last couple of Menagerie House weeks. Lots of everyday fun and games about sums it up, and I am not complaining one bit. So come back soon, ya’ll, and I’ll give you a knitting update (with pictures) and a collection of Cute Conversations.

Happy Valentine’s day!

However, it has all changed this week. Kevin, thanks to his ever-growing employer, is enjoying a week touring office buildings and business hotels in The Netherlands, while the boys and I are home. This is the first time I’ve parented two children alone for any extended length of time. I am slowly rising to the occasion, but it’s a steep learning curve…

For example – Kevin had been gone approximately three hours before Kiri fell down the stairs backwards, throwing a flip in there for good measure. I really thought we’d be going to the ER for sure, but once I dusted him off, stopped the bloody nose, and calmed everyone down, he was fine. He did say, “Mommy, me’s head! Me ouch!” several times during the evening while I kept a close watch on his pupil size.

Yesterday at a birthday party for one of Liam’s classmates, Kiri was running around the room with the bigger kids. He and the birthday boy collided. One of them went flying and it wasn’t our new Mr. 5. It was Kiri, and now he’s sporting a large blue bruise across the middle of his forehead. Then he did it again later on, this time ending up with a swollen lip (but we discovered nursing is a great way to calm a child and apply pressure to a bleeding lip at the same time!) There is just no stopping this boy, I tell you.

But Liam has been a great help. He’s taken a big jump in maturity recently, and he has helped me get Kiri down to sleep twice now. So that’s been fun. And Gran-Gran is coming in to town for a few days starting tomorrow night. We’re all looking forward to that!

All of this is the long way of saying tht I had nothing to blog about, but now I am aquiring some material, and I am hoping to post more regularly in the next few weeks. Just to prove my point, I leave you with our winning cute kiddo story for today….

After dinner, Kiri was wandering around being sad and saying, “DaDa? Hhhhhmmmmm? Dada? Me’s Dada? Dada?” (No, Kev, if you are reading this, I am not trying to make you feel guilty. But the boys and I sure miss you!) I hugged him and told him Daddy would be home soon, and then I said something about about how he’s talking up a storm and growing up way too fast and please slow down.

Liam chirped in, “Why are Mommies so sad when their children grow up?” I explained how part of every mom is proud of her kids growing up, while part of her wants to keep them little and next to her forever. Liam looked confused. He thought about that for a while. And then, evidently happy that he had found something cheering to say to me, said:

“Oh, Mommy, you don’t have to worry. I still have to get through the teenage years. And Kiri has to get through 3.”

He’s right. We’ve got lots of adventures ahead of us.

Hopefully I’ll post some of them in the near future.

This is Liam’s assessment after he, Kiri, and I spent an hour exploring a local toy store and debating the pros and cons of various toys. (The true object of the toy store visit was to purchase a birthday gift for another child while getting me up to speed on the prices of Liam’s most-wanted toys.)

Liam: “Mommy, don’t you think it’s really nice of adults to open toy stores so us children can go in and play and figure out what we want for Christmas?”

Me: “Well, I never thought of it like that before, but yes, it nice that you can go in there and play with the toys.

Liam (beaming): “I love it when adults are so nice to children!”

I asked him if he chews with his mouth closed at school:

Liam: “Well, actually, yes, Mommy. And I keep my napkin in my lap. And I don’t interrupt my friends’ stories.”

Me: “Wow! You really know your good manners. Why do you use good manners at school but not at home?”"

Liam (sounding like a teenager): “Well, Mom, because Mrs. C. tells us we have to bring our good manners to the table.”

(Well, d’uh, Mom!)

Me (teasing): “So you never chew with your mouth open at school?”

Liam: “Weeeellllllllllll….it’s tiring to use good manners all the time, so sometimes when she isn’t looking I do leave my mouth open….”

Me (remembering back to the days of my mother’s table manner lectures): “There are a lot of rules to remember. And it is hard to remember them all. I guess probably everybody ignores the rules sometimes.”

Liam (looking relieved): “Actually, I think you’re right. But you won’t tell Mrs. C. what I told you, will you?”

Me: “Nope. It’s our secret.”

I think I need to remind myself more often that there are an awful lot of things being processed and learned by that little boy’s not-quite-5-years-old brain. My brain just needs to give him a bit of a break.

I was brushing my teeth the other morning while listening to a conversation in the bedroom:

Kevin: “Kiri, come tackle Daddy!”

I heard running feet, the giggling of little boys, and then:

Liam: “Daddy, I think Kieran has a present for you in his diaper.”

Kevin: “Kiri? Do you need a new diaper?”

Kieran: “No!”

I continued on, trying to decide whether Kiri is more like a baby or a little boy these days, and thinking how handy it was that Kevin was still home and could handle the diaper change. Slowly, still sleepy at 6:00 A.M.. I realized what Kieran had said. So did Kevin…

Kevin: “What did you say? Oooh, I see you have that word now!”

Later that day, I asked Kieran about lunch.

Me: “Kieran, how about a sandwich for lunch?”

Kieran: “No!”

That afternoon, I heard this interaction between the boys:

Liam: “Kieran, do you want the red crayon or the blue one?”

Kieran: “No!”

Liam: “How about a marker?”

Kieran: “No!”

Kieran stood up, mumbling “No!” to himself.

Liam just wanted to play with Kieran, but Kieran was clearly intent on exploring his new linguistic skill. Liam gave it one more try:

Liam: “Kiri? What does the cow say?”

Kieran: “No!”

Liam: “Mommy? Why is Kieran saying ‘No!’ even when that’s not what I’m talking about?”

Me: “Well, I guess he does that because it’s fun and just because he can finally say ‘No!’ “

That was when I remembered the word I had been looking for that morning. Kieran isn’t always a baby, yet he’s not a little boy, and he will say “No!” at the drop of a hat. Aha!

Ladies and Gentlemen, hold on to your hats for the wild ride just ahead. Kieran has entered a new phase. He has become a Toddler. With a capital “T”.

Welcome to Toddlerhood, Kiri. It’s fun time you are entering, complete with ups and downs and lots of excitement. But please? Remember to be gentle with your parents - and your brother!

Yesterday the boys and I attended a playdate at local park. I have seen this park many times in passing, but I had never explored it before yesterday. The town next to us built it about ten years ago in celebration of the 300th birthday of the organization of the town’s government. It’s several acres of land with many walking/jogging trails, shade trees, lilacs (note to self – must visit next Spring),  and a gorgeous fountain. When one of the members of my local mothers’ group organized a playdate there and mentioned the terrific playground, I signed up.

We arrived at the park, managed to drag Kiri away from the fountain (the boy loves water – why did I not think to bring a change of clothes for him?), met up with one of the moms and her children, and made our way to the playground.

The equipment was wonderful. I remember not wanting to play on monkey bars as a child because the metal bars inevitably hurt my hands and left blisters if I continued on for long. This place had yard after yard of monkey bar pathway, but the bars were made of a beautiful hard rubber with ridges. The bars felt wonderful in my hand, and I even managed to swing across a few bars before stopping. Liam swung his way across and back and then went on to explore other things.

As we went toward the back of the play area, we found another structure made of these same bars, this time strung together with really tight bungee cords and suspended off of a metal frame. Liam climbed up, jumped off, climbed up, jumped off, and then stared at the structure.

Me: “What are you thinking about, Liam?”

Liam: “Well, I’m trying to figure out what this thing is,”

Me: “It’s a climbing structure, right?”

Liam: “Well, yes, of course, Mommy, but what is it really?”

(Note to self – mark my words, Liam will be a pro at sarcasm by his teen years.)

Me: “What?”

Liam: “I mean it looks like something….I know! It’s a spider web!”

And it was! It really was a spider web made of bars and bungee cords that one could climb on, through, and over. It really was a clever piece of playground architecture. Throughout the morning Liam would wander on and off the spider web, obviously enjoying some sort of imaginary game.

I wondered who or what he was imagining himself to be. Finally, Liam ran over, dragged me to the spider web, and with a quick, “Watch me, Mommy! I’m an exciting creature! Really exciting!” he scrambled up to the middle of the spider web.

I asked him who he was, and he started swinging the web through the air as far out and back as the bungee cords would allow.

Liam: “Watch me, Mommy! Wheee! I’m the famous Big Spider and this is my home! Wheee! Wheee!”

Me: “Glad to meet you, Mr. Big Spider. What are you doing on this fine day?”

Liam stopped swinging, looked at me like I really was denser than he thought, and said, most patiently, “I’m doing what all spiders do on playdates,” swing, swing, swing, “Wheee! Woo Hoo! I’m WEBSURFING!!! It’s fun! Wheee!”

I’m sure the poor boy is still wondering what his crazy Mommy thought was so funny that she ended up choking on lemonade after laughing too hard.

Liam: “Mommy? Kieran isn’t playing fair!”

Me (wondering how a baby/toddler cheats): “Really? What did he do?”

Liam (indignantly): “He didn’t pay me with imaginary money! He tried to trade me a Thomas book for my merchandise!”

Me: “Well, he’s pretty little. Maybe he doesn’t understand about money. Could you just trade instead of using money?”

Liam: “No! He has to use real imaginary money or it’s nor right!!!…….Mommy? You know how to use money, right?”

Me: “Well, yes, yes I do…”

Liam: “Maybe you’d like to buy something from my store?”

Me: “Well, sure, what do you have for sale?”

Liam: “I have the world’s biggest apartment store. I sell everything! Ask me for ANYTHING!”

Liam jumped and spun around in delight.

Me: “Hhhmmm, can I buy a dozen eggs and some soy milk?”

Liam: “Mommy, that’s boring, but if you say so….that’s $4.29.”

I pretended to pay him.

Liam: “You need to buy something fun.”

Me: “I do? Oh, of course. I do. How about a one week trip to DisneyWorld?”

Liam (pretending to search the shelves): “Well, hhhmmm, somewhere…AHA! Here it is. I’ll put your tickets in a bag. Better use plastic in case it’s raining outside. That’s $7.89, ma’am.”

Me: “Thank you, young man, and I do like your prices!”

Liam: “Thank you. Now what else would you like?”

Me: ‘Ummmmm, how about world peace and happiness for all?”

Liam: “Oh, yeah, we sell that – everyone seems to ask for some. Would you like the 5 gallon, or the large barrel?”

Me: “I think the large barrel. How much is the price?”

Liam: “It’s $2.00.”

Me: “Wow, that’s a great price!”

Liam: “Yes, it is. We want everyone to buy some.”

And if it really was that easy, wouldn’t that be truly something amazing??? I hope he’s still holding that thought when he’s grown.

Kieran has a throwing arm that is absolutely mean. We keep telling him when his throwing is inappropriate. If he’s lobbing trains, we’ll gently take them from him and give him a ping-pong ball to throw. We ignore thrown food at the dinner table as much as possible. Still, though, we have to be right on top of him at all times, because usually Liam and Casey are on the receiving end.

It’s not a sibling thing, really, it’s just that Liam gets engrossed in his imaginary play and he becomes the perfect target. Then Kieran spies him, or the dog, realizes the toy he is holding would be more fun thrown, and boom! All heck breaks loose. Which is why Kieran persists in throwing things; he’s in it for the reaction. In the last week Liam got a bruised forehead when a metal Percy was thrown at him from a distance of four feet or so, and poor Casey got hit right between the eyes with a Weeble. It’s dangerous, and it amuses Kieran to no end to see Liam or Casey yelp and run away. It’s not a fun phase that we’re going through with all this throwing, but like any phase, it won’t last forever (we hope!), and it is sometimes funny:

Kieran was in his highchair eating breakfast. More of it was ending up on the floor, and then into Casey’s tummy than was going in Kieran’s mouth. But  he was in a good mood, and so was the dog:

Me (watching Kieran throw cereal): “Kieran, we eat our food. No throwing.”

Kieran: “No??”

Me: “No.”

Kieran picks up some fruit and dangles it over the edge of the highchair, making sure he’s got my attention:

Me: “No throwing, Kiri. Fruit is for Kiri to eat!”

Kiri waves his fruit about:

Me: “No throwing fruit, Mister!

Kieran: “No??”

Me: “No!”

Kieran begins to nibble his fruit; I look away. Silence reigns for a moment, until:

Kieran: “Mama?”

Me: “Yes?”

Kieran (setting up to pitch his pear): “Mama??”

Me: “No throwing.”

Kieran: “No?”

Me: “No.”

Kieran: “Mama? YES!!”

And with that he launched a slice of pear across the kitchen and into the sink. I couldn’t help laughing.

Me (to myself and Casey): “At least he’s cute, and if this keeps up, maybe there’s a college pitching scholarship in his future.”

“Mama says I throw everything, but she is wrong! I would never throw an ear of corn on the cob – it’s too delicious to stop eating!!!”

Liam: “Mommy?”

Me : “Hang on sweetie, I almost have this figured out……wait! Kiri! Bring the chip to Mommy!”

Liam: “Mommy?”

Me: “Not right now honey, I’m trying to…Kiri – chips are not for babies!”

Liam (jumping up and down waving the instruction sheet): “Mommy! You need these! Then we can play.”

Me: “No, I can figure this out, I just need a minute of peace and…Kiri! Please give me back that chip!”

Liam (forcing the instruction sheet down in front of me): “Mommy! Please take these!”

Me: “No, I don’t need them. Maybe you could distract Kiri for a minute or two?

Liam: “Yes! That’s what I’m talking about. You give this sheet of destructions to Kiri. He loves to shred things. He’ll be so busy tearing apart the destructions that he won’t even think about the chips! It’s my best idea since yesternight!”

Me (handing the sheet over to an eager baby): “Yes, honey, I think it is. And to think that all these years I thought instructions had only one use!”